Lok Jan Shakti, headed by Ram Vilas Paswan, a constituent of ruling United Progressive Alliance at the Centre, does not see the possibility of the alliance fighting the next elections as a combined force throughout the country and feels it is too early to name Manmohan Singh as the Prime Ministerial candidate.
Constituents of the UPA have sometimes fought against each other in assembly elections like in Meghalaya or Bihar and a similar trend may be witnessed in the Lok Sabha polls too, says Paswan, Union Steel Minister, in remarks that may not be in line with Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar.
"There is less possibility of pre-poll alliance within the UPA across all states. It is possible to have pre-poll alliance in one state but not in every state," Paswan told PTI.
On whether he would prefer the UPA projecting Singh as the Prime Ministerial candidate, Paswan said that question "does not arise at this moment. You are talking about the candidate; he is already the Prime Minister". He also parried a question on whether Rahul Gandhi will be a good prime ministerial candidate.
Pawar had recently said the UPA and the Left should contest the next elections together. He had also mooted the idea of projecting Manmohan Singh as the prime ministerial candidate.
Paswan described Singh as an 'excellent' and 'honest' Prime Minister who has succeeded in holding the coalition together notwithstanding inherent contradictions.
"As a Prime Minister he is doing an excellent work. Running a coalition government for five years is not child's play in the midst of so many contradictions when the Left parties are launching some movement or the other," he said.
Paswan said the government has not been hit by any scandal and this itself was 'an achievement'.
Asked whether the National Democratic Alliance would get the benefit of projecting Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani as their Prime Ministerial candidate, the Lok Jan Shakti chief said, "It is pre-mature to forecast whether the announcement of Advani as the PM candidate will be to their advantage or disadvantage".
Paswan said the ground reality was that non-BJP and non-Congress parties in states were in some way or the other aligned. He cited the examples of Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa.
This was the biggest problem for the Third Front becoming a viable combination. However, he saw Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chandrababu Naidu and Babulal Marandi as the Third Front leaders.
On whether he sees Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party as a big national force in the coming elections, Paswan said, "No, she cannot play any role. She can play role only in the media".
Paswan said Mayawati will lose 50 per cent of the votes which she received in the last assembly elections.
Asked whether he has patched up with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, Paswan said "neither has he won me over nor have I won him over. We are working our own ways". He said not much should be read about their relationship from the recently concluded Rajya Sabha elections from Bihar.
